Turkmenistan’s commitment to the principles reflects its “desire to cooperate in preventing the proliferation of WMD, their delivery systems and related materials,” according to the statement.

Turkmenistan is in compliance with Proliferation Security Initiative principles and expects to take place in “future activities connected with the initiative,” the statement said (Turkmenistan Foreign Ministry release, Sept. 29).

Turkmenistan Air Force Conducts Tactical ExercisesTopic: Permanent Neutrality
Ashgabat, 6 September 2005 (nCa) --- Turkmen Air Force has conducted tactical exercises in the Mary province where the largest air base of Turkmenistan is located.

The exercise, held under the broad theme ‘Peaceful Skies’, was meant to hone the pilot and ground crew skills in detecting and destroying hostile interference in the air space.

MiG-29 fighter jets and Su-25 attack planes formed the core component of the exercise. Ground support and auxiliary services also participated in the maneuver.

The scenario covered simulated intrusion into the airspace of Turkmenistan, dogfight, and elimination of air and ground threats.

Radio controlled air target was destroyed by air to air missiles during the exercise.

Turkmenistan follows the policy of strict neutrality but an integral element of the policy is that the armed forces of the country should be able to safeguard the borders and repel any attacks.

Turkmenistan to participate in CIS as associated memberTopic: Permanent Neutrality
27.08.2005. The CIS summit held Friday in the capital of Tatarstan, Kazan, unanimously adopted a resolution on the basic principles of participation of neutral Turkmenistan in the CIS.

As the Ashgabat correspondent of Turkmenistan.ru was told in the press service of the republic’s Foreign Ministry, Turkmen leader Saparmurat Niyazov sent a message to the summit participants in which he “made a request to support his position on participation in the CIS as an associated member taking into account Turkmenistan's neutral status.”

According to the Foreign Ministry, the Turkmen president's proposal had been given preliminary support by the participants of a session of the Council of CIS foreign ministries and was then submitted for consideration at the summit of the CIS member states. The initiative of Saparmurat Niyazov on Turkmenistan's new status was wholly supported by all leaders of the CIS member states, the Foreign Ministry emphasized.

President Saparmurat Niyazov on behalf of the Turkmen people and the Turkmen government expressed his sincere gratitude to chairman of the CIS, President Putin of the Russian Federation as well as to other leaders of the CIS member states for their understanding and support.

Turkmenistan and IAEA Sign an AgreementTopic: Permanent NeutralityOn 17 May 2005 a ceremony of signing the Agreement between Turkmenistan and the IAEA on Applying the Guarantees in connection with the Non-Proliferation Treaty and Supplementary Protocol to that Treaty was held at the Headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.

Signing the main documents regulating co-operation of the IAEA with other states and international organisations is an important step on the way of strengthening peace and security both in the region and in the world. It should be said that our country ratified the Non-Proliferation Treaty in September 1994.

Thus signing the present Protocol was a logic continuation of the participation of Turkmenistan in process of non-proliferation and demonstrates the adherence of the country to the its international obligations of a neutral state steadily realising the policy of international co-operation in the sphere of peace and disarmament.

In connection with signing the documents mentioned above the IAEA General Director Mohamed El Baradei especially stressed the importance of co-operation between the IAEA and Turkmenistan in the sphere of non-proliferation. Speaking of that he said that the IAEA would closely co-operate with Turkmenistan in future as well, conducting special courses and seminars for the Turkmen specialists.

?This is very important proposal and OSCE would do all it can to help implement this idea,? said Younal Said Loutfi, deputy head of Bulgarian parliament and special envoy of OSCE Chairman-in-Office.

Loutfi said that the challenges facing mankind today ? terrorism, narco-traffic, cross-border crimes ? were such that no single nation could handle these on its own.

?Joint effort is required to meet these challenges and [Turkmenistan?s proposal for] center for preventive diplomacy could? help tackle some of these problems, he said.

Kamen Velichkov, Bulgarian ambassador for UN and Security Council Affairs, who was accompanying Loutfi, said, ?We don?t see any problem to try and support [the proposal] ? to put these creative ideas into perspective.?

Turkmenistan has proposed establishment of a regional peace center ? Centre for Preventive Diplomacy ? for the Central Asian region. According to the proposal, first aired through an article by President Niyazov in the UN Chrinicle, the United Nations has been invited to set up a peace center in Ashgabat. Turkmenistan has offered to provide all logistic support for the center.

During Niyazov?s visit to Bukhara on 19 November 2004, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan included the proposal in their mutual treaty of eternal peace and friendship.

According a UN official, if all the countries of the region agreed to the proposal, it could be implemented simply by an administrative order from the secretary general of the United Nations. ?There would be no need for voting in the General Assembly,? said the official.

If the center gets established, it would provide an opportunity to the UN and OSCE to pool their resources and avoid wastage that occurs from duplication.